General Motors In Process Of Acquiring “Anthem” Trademark

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General Motors has applied to secure a trademark for Anthem, GM Authority has discovered. The mark, filed under the Goods and Services category of “motor land vehicles namely automobiles, sport utility vehicles, trucks, and vans”, was originally filed with the USPTO on June 11, 2009.

Since then, GM has received four extensions on the application dating 11/11/2010, 5/12/2011, 11/7/2011, and 5/15/2012. Each lasting six months, the extensions allow GM to prolong the due date of an official Statement of Use — one of the final documents in the trademark process that serves to demonstrate how the firm will use the mark in a real-world product or service.

In order to file up to a maximum of six extensions, the party applying for the trademark must have had the application published for opposition, which gives the public at large (including other companies) the ability to protest the awarding of the trademark. GM’s Anthem application, Serial Number 77756972, was published for opposition on April 20, 2010 and was given a Notice of Allowance (NOA) on June 15, 2010 — which affirms GM’s rights to use the mark given that GM files a Statement of Use and a final review by the trademark office.

The Anthem trademark application follows new GM trademark discoveries this week, including ones for Stingray and Enspire.

The GM Authority Take

Given that The General has been pursuing the trademark for more than three years, it’s seems obvious that the automaker is looking to use the name in an actual product. However, which brand — specifically, will get a vehicle with the name is still a mystery. That said, we’re willing to bet that the name is not being reserved for Cadillac… but GMC Anthem, or even Chevy Anthem sounds pretty good — wouldn’t you say?

Trademarks are acquired in specific categories. For instance, GM is seeking rights to the Anthem mark in the motor land vehicles namely automobiles, sport utility vehicles, trucks, and vans category. The simple run-of-the-mill test is to ask whether consumers would confuse Anthem Health Insurance (a service) with a (let’s assume) GMC Anthem (a product and a vehicle).

The USPTO has already 1) published the application for opposition and 2) given GM a Notice of Allowance — or the green light for use/ownership… however, the process hasn’t been completed since GM is yet to provide a Statement of Use — an official document stating that it plans to use the trademark in association with an actual product or service. GM is now on its fourth extension of the deadline to file the document.

Granted that GM will provide the document, the trademark is already theirs in that specific category.

Alex does the name that is being applied for (in this case Anthem) have to be specifically used as a name for an automobile or can it be used as feature or accessory of an automobile, an example being an application like Pandora or Stitcher which could maybe be used through Cadillac’s CUE, Chevrolet’s MyLink or Intellilink in Buick’s and GMC’s ?